Saturday, February 02, 2013

CDLIV - The Dark Days


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week were ‘drab’, ‘pulsate’ and ‘tendril’.

A less dark (maybe) alternative 3WW entry is here.


The Dark Days.

The desolation seemed complete.

Drab, 
Grey, 
Unloved, 
Unclean:
The city is a gutted shell,
The fields devoid of green.

The gift of minds that would not meet,
The outcome was obscene:
Life that used to pulsate so well,
No longer to be seen.

◊◊◊

Time passes, 
Half-lives slip away,
Normal rules don’t apply,
The stage is set for a rebirth to happen, 

By and by.

Quietly, 
On an unmarked day,
With sunlight in supply,
A green tendril breaks through the earth
And reaches for the sky.


---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2013
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34 comments:

  1. This is so full of meaning but could be read in so many ways. Thankfully, hope always does seem to break back through into the "dark days".

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    1. The three words stayed written on the pad on my desk for a few days as I pondered how to bring them together. In the end, as is so often the case, I wrote the last two, quite hopeful, lines first and then moved towards them. No hidden meanings other than a fear that human stupidity will lead us into a nuclear war. Hence the half-life (radiation) reference. In the end, it doesn't matter what people do, life in some form will triumph. Just not life as we know it, Jim. Uh, Frankie. Perhaps the message is to get your cuddles while you can.

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  2. That's a bit deep for three word Wednesday :)

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    1. I could always do something with Hentai themes, of tentacled aliens ravishing wide-eyed innocents?

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    2. See here:
      http://jcosmonewbery2.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/cdlv-interstellar-cuckoos.html

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  3. Those green tendrils will probably appear over here in April - until then, all we can do is enjoy the winter!

    And yes, there are plenty of unlovely things in my world, but I choose not to post them.

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    1. By way of explanation: Lady Fi posts a series of the most glorious photos. I had asked her if there was anthing in her world that wasn't beautiful.

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  4. Everything can stripped away from you in a second...the possibilities are endless...good advice about the cuddles...one can never have too many. Good use of the words...depressing subject but predictable for the future.

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  5. "Quietly,
    On an unmarked day,
    With sunlight in supply,
    A green tendril breaks through the earth
    And reaches for the sky." - such a beautiful ending ... loved this masterpiece !!!

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  6. Excellent and well-composed poem, JC. I love the ending....that the green tendril breaks through the earth and reaches for the sky. Rebirth!

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  7. A final rebirth in a dark cityscape.

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  8. Great depth and reads so well.

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  9. Well done! I felt the strength of your emotion, though, tightly held and I cheered that you ended it on a hopeful note... although not necessarily for man!

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  10. All it takes is one green tendril...

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  11. Ha...just have to tell you I chose that Koala at the Pantry ESPECIALLY for you. You like? LOL

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  12. The hope of rebirth is always there. Beautiful write!

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  13. All seems grim, but then, a green tendril, excellent. I love the word, tendril

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  14. Very vivid! I like it!

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  15. This gave me chillbumps. The set up of the happening was sobering and scary and then the ending was one I hoped for. Beautiful.

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  16. " A green tendril breaks through the earth
    And reaches for the sky."


    LOVE the ending!

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  17. "The gift of minds that would not meet" is a brilliant line, JCN. I just read "The Yellow Birds" and this poem would be a perfect intro to that Iraq war novel written from the perspective of a 21-year old soldier.

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  18. Like this and the line the stage is set for a rebirth to happen, good work J

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  19. I like "the gift of minds" verse - the desolation is well-described.

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  20. After the darkness, a small tendril of life and hope - what we humans need to keep hope alive...beautiful writing, kiddo.

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  21. Well - I certainly like how hope breaks through along with new growth. Nicely done.

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  22. Really cool, I like the almost casual rhyming and a nice positive ending.

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  23. This feels both hopeful and inevitable--lovely, lovely write.

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  24. Dark indeed, and very well written!

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  25. Wow! seems like the word after a doomsday occurrence! Or maybe, I'd like to think, after the dinosaurs got wiped out and we came into being. Such beautiful and ethereal write! :) Haha, not at all less darker than your previous try at it!

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  26. I loved the positivity at the end. We all hope for rebirth after drab days.

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  27. Cos, why did anyone have a problem with this? We know it's going to end eventually. Someone much richer than we are will push a lever, a button, make a bad call... and while we will be ash, life (as so eloquently stated in Crichton's "Jurassic Park") will find a way.

    Hence the tendril. I got the half-life reference. I dig bleak poetry, even when it doesn't have a hopeful ending. I mean, think about the stuff I write, and it all HAPPENED. Better an imagination of the end of the world than a real-life account of childhood sexual abuse, you know? I loved this. Peace, Amy (one of these cinquains matches your theme, BTW)
    http://sharplittlepencil.com/2013/02/04/cinquains-for-real-toads/

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  28. is it wrong that at the very end I was thinking about WALL-E? the planet may not seem as dark and bleak as you describe here, but that little tiny sprig of green escaping from the dirt filled boot just stuck with your final words.

    a lovely verse. I enjoyed the division (death and rebirth). well penned.

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